Our good friend Maximilian Günther will race one more season in the super competitive FIA Formula 3 European championship

The reigning European championship runner-up continues with his successful Italian team Prema. After his successful 2016 season, our friend Maxi has a clear goal: to win the championship in the world’s strongest junior formula racing series.

Another task awaits Max this season apart from racing for the Formula 3 title.

He was recently invited to join the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team as official test and reserve driver after a successful DTM test in early December which came about as a reward for his strong performance in the 2016 FIA Formula 3 European championship.

Günther will act as the seventh driver for the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM Team on race weekends of the touring car series which is internationally very popular and he will also take out the Mercedes-AMG Motorsport DTM race taxi.

Max will have a new German team-mate at Prema this year: up-and-coming young star Mick Schumacher, the son of the most successful racing driver, Formula 1™ Record World Champion Michael Schumacher.

A short review of success:

In 2016 Max had the most successful year of his career, being awarded ADAC Junior Motor Sports Person of the Year and crowned ‘Germany’s Motorsport Talent of the Year’ for the second time by the Deutsche Post Speed Academy.

The 19-year-old was the first German driver since Nico Hülkenberg in 2008 to lead the overall standings in European Formula 3. Günther’s record last year is impressive:

Four wins, seven pole positions and 13 podiums.

Max explains, why he decided to race another season in the FIA Formula 3 championship in 2017: “The series is considered to be the world’s strongest formula racing series for juniors. There were alternatives, but as far as I’m concerned, this was the overall package that suited me best. Winning the title of European championship runner-up last year was a major success for me, but as a racing driver, you always want to achieve more, so my goal this year has to be to win the championship, for sure. With the help of the guys from Prema and the support of Mercedes-AMG Motorsport, I reckon I have an excellent chance of making the move up into Formula 1™ or into the DTM.”

Max about being one of the favourites to take the title: “It’s certainly an incentive and feels nice to be among the title favourites. Sure, it also adds extra pressure, but when your goal is to drive in the top echelons of motor racing and be successful there, you have to withstand that pressure. I’ve consistently proven over the past few years that I can handle pressure well, which is why I’m already looking forward to the new season and will again do my best.”

Max about his new teammate Mick Schumacher: “Mick is a very talented driver. He’s shown in Formula 4 that he can be very quick. We spent some time together at the end of last year Formula 3 testing in Spain. It went extremely well for us. We’ve both been part of the Prema family since 2015 and have had one or two interesting conversations during our time together. I think it’s great to have a Formula 3 team-mate who speaks German like me.”

Maxi enjoys the backing of Mercedes-Benz and is one of the brightest prospects among the current crop of single-seater juniors in Germany.

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Inga Stracke is a multi-talented journalist, event organizer, and networker who is equally at home in the Formula 1™ paddocks around the globe as well as the winter hills of the 4-Hill-Ski jumping tournament and other world class events. She is also a motorsport travel advisor for DERTOUR.Born in Bavaria, Inga became famous as pit-lane reporter for German Sky-TV and F1’s™ own multi-channel digital TV, and she founded the first agency for F1™ commercial radio broadcast in D-A-CH. She also produced the first Formula 1™ live radio show nationwide in US/Canada and headed the creation of the original Red Bulletin. Inga regularly contributes culinary trip reviews and gourmet features for MICHELIN starred restaurants around the globe.

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